Bored Beer Connoisseurs and Commoners
Following my postearlier this week, Oakshire Brewing's Matt Van Wyk offered his view about Oregon Craft Beer Month and the possibility of a Portland Beer Week event. While his view differs from mine, Matt offers some great points. And because his post is not open for comments, I thought I'd respond here.
After reminding us that not everyone is a beer blogger or uber beer geek, Matt's post suggests that we consider the casual beer drinker, or the commoner, and offers this:
...perhaps the critics of OCBM are coming at it from the wrong perspective, from a bored beer connoisseur perspective. We can’t put on hundreds of events during a month and have them all be Barrel Aged beer fests, Beer and cocktail events, or 4 chef beer dinners. Can they be there? Yes. Do we need other events that aren’t for the experienced “off the radar” crowd? yes. Is there room for improvement? yes. Is there any other state that has the volume of events and beer flowing as Oregon? I’d wager not.
Portland Beer Week
While perhaps an unpopular view, I'm happy that I came across posts from Beer Around Town and Dr. Wort expressing a shared lack of enthusiasm for Oregon Craft Beer Month. While these posts were written leading into Oregon Craft Beer Month, I was optimistic about my first July living in Portland when I first read them a month ago. Now that July has come and gone, I'm disappointed to report that I'm in the same boat.
For me, Oregon Craft Beer Month simply fell short. I expected more excitement. I expected more out-of-the-ordinary. Instead, it felt routine. In many ways, with the exception of a couple notable events, July was just like any other month for beer drinkers in Oregon. New beers were released, beer dinners were held, breweries offered tours, and brewers attended meet-and-greets. I wanted more.
Now, an important distinction needs to be made. When I say that I wanted more, I'm not talking about quantity. There were plenty of events happening throughout the month. Rather, I share the same view offered by Derek at Beer Around Town, "I can’t help but think we could corral all this individual stuff into more substantial events."
Oregon Brewers Festival Recap
And what a weekend it was. As we look back on a great weekend at the Oregon Brewers Festival, it's pretty amazing to think that there's still nearly an entire week left to enjoy Oregon Craft Beer Month. But before gearing up for the home stretch, I wanted to offer up my impressions of the OBF.
Having moved to Portland just after last year's fest, this was my first Oregon Brewers Festival experience. Overall, I thought the festival was great. While beer obviously plays a central role in any beer festival, I appreciated the fact that OBF includes a variety of festivities and experiences that work to create a real festival atmosphere. Unfortunately, I missed the opening day parade and keg-tapping, but in reading reviews from others in attendance, it's obvious that the opening ceremony really helped set the tone for a great weekend.
Before the festival got started on Thursday, I had posted my picks for the Oregon Brewers Festival. These were all beers I had never had before. And after visiting the fest a couple times this weekend, I'm pretty happy that I was able to try all but one on my list (sadly, the beer I wasn't able to try was Flying Fish Exit 4 - which was well received and made several peoples' best of the fest lists).
My Picks for the Oregon Brewers Festival
The Oregon Brewers Festival starts today! While I've been distracted recently by the seemingly endless number of Oregon Craft Beer Month events, I thought I'd follow Brewpublic and Portland Beer and Music's lead and share my beer picks for the fest. Here are the beers - with descriptions offered by Gary Corbin - that I'll be seeking out this weekend:
- Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale: A simple beer from a technical standpoint, what makes it unique is the blend of a Belgian yeast and citrusy Amarillo hops on a grain bed of pale malt, malted and unmalted wheat, and corn flakes. Yes, corn flakes. And with that milky white head, you could call it breakfast. It's named for the famously "recalcitrant" fermentation tank in which it came to life.
- Boundary Bay German Tradition Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale: Made especially for the Oregon Brewers Festival, this beer gets its name from the German Tradition hops used in all four hop additions, including two dry-hoppings. Two-row and Munich malts fill out the simple grain bill and provide malt balance to Tradition's medium-level bittering and citrus flavor and aroma.
- Caldera Hibiscus Ginger Beer: This beer is not about the hops. Ginger root, beets and hibiscus flowers provide its unique spicy, zesty flavors and aromas. Belgian candi sugar boosts the fermentables provided by 2-row and Carafoam malts. Ginger and hibiscus are boiled with the wort, along with a small amount of Willamette hops. The beer is "dry-flowered" with hibiscus. It was brewed special for the OBF, so get it before it's gone.
- Flying Fish Exit 4: This inspired Belgian-style Trippel has a hazy golden hue and the aroma of citrus with hints of banana and clove. Predominant Belgian malt flavors give way to a subdued bitterness in the finish. This beer is worthy of high praise, having won a gold medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival and named by Men's Journal as the best Belgian beer brewed in America for 2009.
- Great Divide Hoss: Based on the Marzen lagers of Bavaria, this award-winning brew (bronze - GABF 2009; World Beer Cup, 2010) boasts rich, layered malt notes with hints of cherry and dark fruits. The unique addition of rye imparts a slightly earthy, spicy character. Thanks to lagering and a proprietary clean-finishing yeast, Hoss finishes crisp and dry, with just a hint of Perle and Hersbrucker hops.
- Rock Bottom Oud Heverlee: This beer is steeped with both Belgian tradition and its correspondingly unusual ingredients. Dried tulips add a "weet niet het" flavor in the local vernacular - sort of a floral-crossed-with-umami kind of thing. Also, only specially-aged "vloer suipt" Sterling hops are used to bring out their best, most "noble" flavor. The Belgian-style yeast brings out notes of pepper and apricot.
- Rogue 21: Brewmaster John Maier has brewed a different beer for OBF for 21 years in a row; to honor the OBF and John’s “21er,” John brewed a one-time batch of an Olde Ale, called 21 Ale. It's brewed with 14 ingredients: 2-row, Briess Amber, C-40, Wyermann Carafa & Rogue Farms RiskTM Malt; Willamette, US Goldings & Rogue Farms Revolution Hops; Simpsons Golden Naked Oats; Franco-Belges Carawheat; molasses, brewer’s licorice, Wyeast Old Ale Blend yeast & free range coastal water.
- Sierra Nevada Tumbler: Sierra Nevada uses malt within days of roasting at the peak of its flavor to give Tumbler a gracefully smooth malt character. Two-row pale, crystal 40, chocolate and smoked malts give it a malty complexity. Challenger hops in the boil add balancing bitterness, while more Challengers and some Goldings give just enough hop flavor in the finish to balance all that malt.
- Surly Bitter Brewer: On top of its base of 2-row pale ale malt, Simpsons Golden Naked Oats, crystal malt and roasted barley gives this beer its extra smooth, slightly sweet taste and dark amber color. Glacier hops are used as first-wort hops, in the whirlpool, and for dry-hopping, with Columbus for additional bittering. The result is a malty, moderately-hopped, highly drinkable session bitter.
- The Bruery 7 Grain Saison: Two-row pale malt, rye, oats, unmalted wheat, flaked rice, flaked maize and spelt comprise this unique beer's complex grain bill. By contrast, only moderate amounts of Magnum and Sterling hops balance the malt's sweetness. The house Belgian-style strain provides a spicy character in the finish.
- Widmer Brothers Captain Shaddock IPA: People sometimes describe the aromas and flavors of hoppy IPAs as "grapefruit." Hell, why not use some then? Widmer's brewing team used a simple IPA recipe and added a generous amount of dried grapefruit peel to the end of the boil. The aroma is a melody of citrus, with a slight spice undertone, accentuated by the use of Citra hops. The flavor is that of nice hop forward IPA with the bitterness of grapefruit.
Please note, these beers and descriptions were part of the lineup made available to media on July 16th. The festival's website offers a list of all the beers that will be pouring here. The fest starts today at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland and runs through Sunday.
